I don't fit in here
by ko-se1
Summary: X and Zero live their lives as student in highschool. Things sometimes get complicated, with X's brother Rock dealing with his first crush. Or Zero dealing with his grandfather and bratty cousin. But, if they have each other, things will end up alright... Right? (Has ZeroX and BassxRock)
1. Chapter 1

Zero was having a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

It started with listening to Bass, the brattiest 12-year old in the world yell to Wily and telling him to shut up. Not the best way to wake up, and Zero had to leap out of bed to tell him and the old man to shut up, which turned into a screaming match of them all yelling and the old man saying how much he regretting ever bringing them into his shitty little trailer. Zero regretted being born at all.

Next, he realized he slept weird. How did he know that? Well, his fucking ear hurt like a bitch, his neck ached, and his back stung every time he leaned forward. None of his clothes were clean, and to his dismay, once he winced to pick up a dirty one from the floor, he had the choice between one with a mysterious red stain (blood or ketchup? The world may never know.) or one with a hole on the butt.

Of course, he knew had to sew, had to when you live with Bass who swung a punch to anyone who looked at him funny and Zero who had a talent for getting into trouble with the wrong people. Of course, there were plenty of patches in their clothes and new holes were formed in there every day. but there wasn't any time. He spent enough time yelling at the old man and trying to get the rats nest out of his hair. He pulled, he yanked, he tugged, but that brush kept getting stuck, eventually he said fuck it and cut the giant knot out. Not like he'd miss it anyway, he had enough hair to compensate. It just meant that he only had enough to throw on his clothes and maybe grab a mountain dew for his breakfast. For his lunch, maybe he would have enough time to cut the mold off of some bred ad slather some mustard on the sorry looking pieces.

So the mysterious stain it was.

His prediction was right, his golden loose ponytail flew behind him as he ran to school. While his can of mountain dew sloshing around his hand and baggie with his mustard sandwich banging against his leg. The bad day wasn't over just yet, he got to school late and got chewed out by , he was now going to have to clap the chalkboard erasers during lunch. He didn't understand why his school even used chalkboards still to begin with, or how that was a good punishment. It was stupid. Now he was going to have chalk dust all over him, and couldn't procrastinate on doing laundry, which meant Wily yelling at him for wasting electricity and water…

It was punishment enough knowing X was disappointed in him for being late. He saw it as soon as he walked in. He had been on his case for a while about "taking school more seriously" and this would only fan the flames and add to his case. Axl was already elbowing X and whispering about something. Bet it was about him. Damn Axl...

On top of it all, Signas had confiscated the Mountain dew.

Great, now to top it all off he was going to be sleepy the rest of the day.

And sleepy he was. He was falling asleep left in right in all his classes. From math to classic lit, to chemistry…

He couldn't even look forward to a good meal once lunch arrived. He had only 20 minutes once he was done clapping the erasers together, and his once black uniform was speckled with the white dust. At least the mysterious stain was less noticeable now, he thought.

Sighing, he wished he had his real parents. Wily's "useless drunk of a daughter" who had gotten into a car crash when he was just 2 years old. Drunk or not, he would rather be beaten and the stench of alcohol cling to him all day long if that meant a decent lunch every once in a while. He could cook, yes but that didn't mean anything when he only cared to go to the grocery store once every month and it was usually eaten up by Bass by the time they took a step into the house.

But that also meant he wouldn't have met X. His best friend since he was 5…

Recently though, he's been feeling more than just… friends. He wondered if Vile's teasings of him being gay were right. What he was feeling wasn't just friendly. They were more than that. But it wasn't like anything would come out of it, he thought. It was better to stay by his side if something had happened… He didn't know if he could live his life without X as his friend as depressing as it was.

Besides, he deserved more than someone like Zero.

He managed to reach the rooftop to where X and Axl liked to eat on sunny days during the last 15 minutes of lunch.

"Hey, Zero! Didn't think you would come here before lunch would end!" Axl waved Zero noticed how he was holding a bento from a convenience store and was jealous. It was ridiculous, being jealous of something only worth 500 zenny but his part-time job didn't nearly make enough as he liked. Not that he could complain too much he guessed…

X waved and his heart went doki doki.

"Yeah. Today sucks."

He sat next to them and tried to choke down his mustard sandwich and ignore the rumbling in his stomach.

"Yeah, some days are like that. Yesterday someone stole my shoes and threw them into a tree."

"You get them back?" X asked, concern laced in his voice.

"Yeah, I did! Good thing I did, or else Red would've probably beat my ass."

"That's abuse!"

"I didn't mean literally X." he snickered and grinned cheekily.

"O-oh… W-well of he does you'll tell me right?"

"Of course X," Axl responded with clear sarcasm. Zero wondered how X would react if he knew in what conditions he was living in. A dingy trailer and a verbally abusive grandfather…

His mind drifted off and before he knew it he was staring at X, his pale soft skin and his brown hair that laid in soft curls. He patted the top of his head, yep, soft…

"Hm? Are you okay Z?" he looked at him weirdly but didn't brush his arm away.

"...I'm fine."

Axl snickered, "Gay."

"Axl, I'm already having a bad day. I won't hesitate."

"I-It was a joke!"

The break was nice but the day had just got worse, next they had PE class and had no choice to listen to X and his ramblings about how important was school and getting an education and how he ought to start going to cram school and take his final exams seriously and so should Axl- (who let out an "eh?! Why me?!")

Most days Zero didn't pay any mind to his ramblings, he thought those were what made him X. Today though Zero had half of a mind to tell him how precious Dr. Light would put him through college no matter what. He knew how much that would hurt him, so he bit his tongue.

That day they split into teams to play volleyball, volleyball wasn't that bad but the team Zero was one was against… Vile's.

Fucking Vile.

As soon as the gym teacher left the room, he started up his act, the act of being the biggest dick this side of the moon. Zero fucking loathed Vile, his snarky attitude, his shaggy black hair, what an ass.

"Come and get me girly!" Vile spat in Zero's direction

"Real original Vile." he rolled his eyes.

"What?! Too pussy?! Your fucking boyfriend getting to you?!"

X frowned and looked at Zero, "He isn't worth it, don't do anything you'll be-"

"If you want to live this gym alive Vile, you will drop it. Now." Of course, he couldn't leave it alone. Insulting him was one thing, insulting X was another. He knew Vile was trying to provoke him, but fuck it worked.

They stared at each other for a long moment, sizing the other up. Zero had a talent for glaring at people, a direct hit from his sapphire eyes could weaken the hearts of many men.

Except for Vile, it seemed, as he just glared back.

"Hmph. Just as I thought. You just don't look like a faggot, you act like one too-"

That did it, Zero lunged at him, hitting, and striking his face, the volleyball net collapsed on them, and soon the fight became a tangle of stray limbs while screaming. X came over to untangle Zero from the mass. So did one of Vile's lackey's, a boy with black feathery hair and a long pointed nose that had the nickname "penguin."

Of course, the teacher had decided to finally come back in while this was just going on. The shrill whistle was blown and his yell, "PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE! NOW!" echoed throughout the gymnasium.

Zero scoffed and started walking out, so did Vile, his black hair and nasty snarl following.

"You too!" the teacher pointed at X, his face went pale and he stuttered, "m-m-me?"

"Hey! He didn't do anything! He was trying to stop us!"

The teacher sighed and shook his head, "He got involved. Go."

Xavier and his curly brown hair followed.

Vile got in front of them, shoving X as he walked past. X just sighed and gave Zero a look once he saw that glare and clenched fist.

"He-'

"I'm disappointed in you Zero. You know violence isn't the answer, and besides that Vile was trying to provoke you. You just gave him what he wanted."

The sinking in Zero's stomach overpowered the bits of rage that pricked up when he heard Vile chuckling. His no-good very bad day had sunk to a new low. X was disappointed in him.

Out of all the things, waking up to yelling, have a mustard sandwich for lunch, wearing dirty clothes to school, having your hair be a mess, getting to school late, getting chalk dust all over your clothes, this was the worst.

Disappointing X was the worst part.

That was worse than having to deal with Principal Sigma. The gym teacher is such an ass. He fucking sent X but not that asshole Penguin. His voice is fucking annoying.

All this shit fucking blows.

Zero was relieved when X was let off the hook. It was very surprising considering sigma hates both him and X, for reasons who didn't know and couldn't know. Vile also got off the hook, while Zero had a month's worth of detentions. Of course. That wasn't surprising.

What a horrible day. Thank god the day was almost over, he could spend his hour in detention, and then go home and get a few slices of pizza hut slices before Bass ate it all. It wouldn't help how awful all of this is, but it could maybe compensate for the mustard sandwich.

He spent a lonely hour by himself in detention. Tapping his fingers, and thinking, thinking.

About X mostly. He definitely, he thought, liked him.

More than just a friend.

It wasn't as startling as a realization as it probably should have been. He had known this, for a while maybe. It had been on his mind for a while, and it should've been more obvious. Really, if he thought about it, he had probably known for a while. He was really fucking dumb to not realize that up until now. What a moron I am he thought.

But another thought he had, why would someone like X want someone like Zero? X had it all, a loving family, siblings that loved him with sweet kinda faces and looked up to him and called him "big brother." The only thing Bass had called him was "shit head" or "Blondie" both of which turned into a fight and Zero having to pin him down into a chokehold. His face certainly isn't sweet. It was nasty, his soul and heart were twisted up by Wily who hated his adversary Rock and the Light family more than anything it seemed. It was their fault they lived in a dingy trailer while they lived in a nice mansion-worthy house. Zero thought it was because Wily is a stupid old man with -0 common sense.

He wouldn't love someone who is related to the guy who keeps lunging at Rock wherever he has a chance. He wouldn't want someone who had a mangy old mutt that bit anything or anyone that wasn't bass. Damned mutt nearly ripped Zero's hair off his scalp once. Their pets were sweet, friendly, and well trained The orange tabby they had, named Tempo. The cat never once lunged at the blue and yellow parakeet they had, named Beat, even when it was out of its cage. Of course, he didn't know he lived like that. Zero would change the subject when it was brought up, but the point very much stood still.

Their way of life was better than that of the Wily family. That was just a fact. One set in stone.

He left detention 10 minutes early. The teacher that was supposed to watch him was fast asleep anyways, not like anybody would miss him.

It was spring, so the sun was still high in the air, blissful, the light was, after being locked away in a dark building with unnatural light for so long, it felt nice to see the light and the pink cherry blossoms in the wind. What wasn't so nice though, was the heat. The sun seemed to shine directly on him, the black uniform didn't take to kindly to that and his back started to sweat. Zero has just asked the gods for a drink when he spotted a nearby vending machine. Closing his eyes, he silently and pleaded for just enough to buy him a cold drink, didn't matter what it was really. Just something cold and refreshing… He reached into the hole where the change was dispensed and…

Felt a couple of coins. His eyes flew open in surprise, his hand opened to three 100-zenny coins and he thanked the gods, whichever one had decided to bless him. But then again, he deserved it after the day he had. His eyes hovered over the prices and landed on ramune. Marble soda. Ramune… that brought him back. A librarian, Dr. Cain was his name. He and X were always very close, Cain was almost like a second father. Whenever he couldn't tell Light something, there he was chatting to Cain who would buy him and Zero marble soda.

X…

Putting the coins in, his heart suddenly felt heavy, and he had to pronounce his love. He had to say it out loud just once, just once, then… Then it would be all over he could leave it alone he just needed this one moment to say it. Nobody was around. He could say it now and nobody would ever ever ever notice.

So he did. Crouched down, and carefully taking out the glass bottle so it didn't shatter in his hands and set off a perfectly awful day.

"I love X."

He stood up and turned around only to see the persons whose name he just uttered. His emerald-green eyes were wide, his mouth is slightly open and he was looking at him with complete surprise.

"...Zero…? What did you just say?"

"..."

Zero could feel his hands shaking, his breath quivering and his legs trembling. Terror, sheer terror flooded his senses and before he knew it he was running away from X, who was yelling after him to come back.

...What an idiot I am. He thought. Why in the world did I do that? He wondered. It was the most idiotic thing I have ever done. Now, we can't stay friends. How big of a fucking moron could I be?! God, god DAMMIT. WHY WAS HE EVEN THERE?!

He felt wet stinging his cheeks and only then did he realize he was crying. Still, he didn't stop running, his calves ached, his breathing was heavy and he let out wheezes and gasps, he held onto his side in pain, his arm limply moved from side to side, he still kept on running. He still kept on going. He didn't stop running until he reached the grey trailer with a metal fence and dried yellow grass in the yard, he didn't stop until he threw the door open, he didn't stop when Bass yelled to ask what the fuck he was doing, and he didn't stop until he went into his room and cried into his pillow, on his yellowed mattress with a white sheet. He could hear Bass and Wily talking in the other room as he less-than-silently cried.

"What the hell? Is he crying? What a pussy."

"Leave him alone." Wily snapped at him.

"But boys who cry are pussies."

"You don't kick a man when he's down."

"Unless it's Rock."

"Well, that's a given. Now shut up, I need to call pizza hut."

Later Bass gave him 3 slices of cheese pizza on a paper plate. His face was just as sour as usual, and he left without a word, but Zero knew he had good intentions. Wily in the other room had only told him to give him two. Usually, he would've only given one, or hell, fought him about it. Definitely not give him three.

Still, it left a sour taste as he usually scarfed the thing down, he was instead slowly chewing it while staring at the ceiling. It was now 8 o'clock, and zero had his hair down and was wearing a red shirt and basketball shorts from 3rd grade. They were short, but they still fit. The TV blared something about monster trucks in the other room. Occasionally Wily would tell him to turn it down, he would but just turn it back up 5 minutes later. Then there was a RAP RAP RAP on the door.

"Answer the door already!"

"IM GOING TO! Sheesh!"

Zero couldn't hear who it was or what they were talking about but he did hear,

"ZERO! GET OVER HERE!"

"WHY?!" he yelled back

"SOME GUY NEEDS TO SEE YOU!"

After a bit of grumbling and stuffing the last bit of pizza into his mouth, he got the motivation to get up.

Imagine his surprise when he saw it was X

"It's your fuckin boyfr-"

Zero pushed Bass outside and stepped outside into the cool night air.

"Why are you here? How did you know where I live?"

"I-I've always known… I just didn't want to say anything… I thought you were embarrassed,..."

"..."

"...Zero, I-"

"You didn't hear anything." he cut X off.

"Zero wait-"

"Please, please just forget what you heard. " zero cringed at how he was begging, BEGGING him, "I just want to stay being friends, I-I don't want- I won't… I won't bring it up again, just…"

"Zero. Please, listen."

"..." He was listening.

"I...I…" This was peculiar, this was new. X looked nervous. He couldn't look him in the eyes, his feet were firmly placed together and his fingers were restlessly twitching. Zero couldn't allow himself hope but he wondered…

"I actually…"

No way…

"I like you too…"

Zero stared. He stared and stared and stared. He was considering getting his ears checked.

"What?"

"I-I like you."

"...What?"

"I like you Zero! I really really like you!"

"...Why?"

"T-there's a lot of reasons. "

"But I-"

As if reading his mind, X retorted back, "I don't care where you live or how your family hates my dad and my brother. I like you. You've been my best friend for years and… well... I know you don't like to show it but you really can be sweet, and kind…."

He hugged him. He was hugging him. X had hugged him before, but it felt… different. Before he knew it, Zero was leaning into it and had his arms around him as well.

He thought, maybe, the day wasn't so bad after all.


	2. I hate you

"Woah?! You guys are dating?!"

It was a perfectly partly-cloudy day. The sun was shining with the exception of when it disappeared behind a cloud and the world below was covered in shade. The birds chirped and the ground was still damp the morning's dew. And the frequent rain.

It was the perfect time to tell one of your closest friends that you and another of your closest friends have been dating.

Such was the situation. Axl stared at X and Zero with wide eyes, his chopsticks with his cut up sausage froze in mid-air.

'He really didn't need to look so shocked', Zero thought. He felt something warm and looked down to see that X had grabbed his hands. It was a simple gesture and an unfamiliar one. Zero didn't exactly hold hands with people often. It did make his heart skip a beat and his face flush, things he could kick himself for. He muttered a reply, "Yeah."

"For how long?!" Time resumed and he stuffed his face with the mini-sausage.

X's head tilted to the side and his face scrunched up, "Hm… How long has it been Z?"

"Not very long." At least it didn't feel very long. "Maybe… a couple weeks?" he guessed.

"That sounds about right."

Axl, leaned back, eyes closed and hand on chin. "Hmm… I guess it does make sense….. Now that I think about it, you guys have been more touchy-feely than usual…" Zero didn't want to ask what he meant by that. he suddenly started chuckling, "Oh man, Oh man that's hilarious!"

"What do you mean by that?" X stole the words right out of Zero's mouth.

"Well you know, since Alia likes X, and Layer likes Z-"

"WHAT?!"

Zero flinched at X's sudden outburst. Axl looked confused.

"You didn't know what? Literally, everybody knows that."

"I-I mean, well, I appreciate Alia a-and she's been an old friend of mine, b-b-but…" Zero couldn't help but think how cute X was when his face was all red like that. -"I don't like her… like that."

"Clearly." Axl snickered. "You play for the other team entirely."

"…I thought she liked Gate. She's always-"

"That's just cause they're in the science club together with Dynamo and… Lumine right?" Axl interrupted.

"I don't know how she can stand to be around them." Zero suddenly said. "I swear, some of them are actually insane."

"Lumines a dick."Zero nodded in agreement.

So uh, big red-" Axl faced Zero, "What do you think about Layer?"

"...Well…" he thought for a moment, "...She's pretty."

Silence. Both Axl and X stared at him.

"...That's...That's it?"

"Well… Yeah."

"...Nothing else?" X asked.

"Not really. I like the beauty mark on her cheek and she's… nice enough I guess."

Axl chuckled, "Guess you don't have to worry about him cheating any, huh X?"

Zero felt anger inside of him flare up. Was he trying to suggest that he would cheat on X?! He would never, ever-

"I already know Zero would never do that. " Oh thank the lord. "Are you… okay with this?"

"Yeah, I'm cool with you dating." Axl shoved the last of his convenience store bento into his mouth. "The only bad this now whenever we hang out together I'm going to be the 3rd wheel." He pouted.

X smiled, "I promise that won't happen."

"Yeah, yeah, yer gonna get all lovey-dovey and gonna forget about poor, poor Axl and leave him all alone." he let out fake cries and put his face in his hands. X rolled his eyes and reached over to pat his back. Zero frowned once his hand left his.

"It's soooo boring without you guys! This whole town's suuuuch a drag! I wish me and Red were back in the city!" He wailed.

"If you hadn't had moved you wouldn't even know we existed."

"I guess you're riiight…" he pouted again. The bell rung, Axl groaned and Zero was half tempted to join him.

"Ughhhhh, I don't wanna go back to class…"

"Come on, art is next, that isn't so bad." X helped him up.

"Ugh, I can't draw portraits. I can only draw stick figures."

"That makes two of us. " Zero chimed in.

"Come on!"

Somehow they made it to their next class on time.

Recently Zero had joined the Kendo club. If you asked him why he wouldn't really have a reason, but the one he did offer up usually was-

"I like fighting." Which was a half-truth? He never was infatuated with it. It just that it seemed to be the only thing he was ever good at. X would disagree.

He knew that was true.

Zero stared longingly at the vending machine as they walked past together. There wasn't any way he was going to fish for spare change in it with X standing there. But fuckin' hell he was thirsty.

"Hm? You thirsty Z?" X seemed to always know what he was thinking about, either way.

"I don't have any money."

"It's fine Zero. " his hand reached into his pants pocket and he pulled out a coin purse. "You getting ramune?"

"..." he knew that he couldn't convince X not to get him anything. "Yeah…"

"I think I'll have one too. " X said as he popped the gold coins with a "Z" stamped on the front into the machine.

Soon enough the sound of the marble rattling around in the neck of the bottle ringed through the air. It was always nice to watch the marble pop through and see the soda fizz up. At least, to Zero it was. He sat down on a bench nearby. Its frayed wooden surface was sprinkled over with pink petals from a nearby cherry blossom tree. X sat next to him and stared down the small opening for the glass bottle.

"...I think…"

"Hm?" Zero looked over and frowned once he saw X's troubled look.

"...What is it?"

"...I think… Rock…" He trailed off again.

"What about your brother?"

He took a deep breath. "I think he's crushing on Bass."

Zero blinked. Then he blinked again. Then for a 3rd time.

"What."

"The other day he came into my room, and said he's been feeling… strange when he's around Bass." X's eyes were straight ahead of him. "What he described… was how I feel when I'm around you."

Zero's face turned red. "Oh. Did you… tell him that?"

X shook his head. "I'm not sure how to tell him that. I don't think he's ever crushed on anyone else… He did just turn 13."

"Bass is going to turn 13 pretty soon."

X just nodded.

Zero took a deep swig from his bottle of ramune and set it down with a hearty "clunk" and a loud sigh. "Poor Rock."

"Poor Rock?"

"Yeah. Out of all the people he could have crushed on, my brother is by far the worst."

"That can't be true. He wouldn't fall for someone that had no good in him at all." X objected.

"I live with the guy and I'm saying there's no good in him."

"There must be at least one time he showed that there's good in him."

Zero thought about it. Was there ever a time he did?

"...One time he gave me 3 slices of pizza. "

"See?" he smiled.

"Still. Bass hates him." Zero reminded.

"I don't think he hates Rock. I think he WANTS to hate rock."

"Why would he want to hate him?!" Zero almost shouted in disbelief.

X finally looked back at Zero. "I don't know. I don't live with him. Why would he?"

The branches of the trees waved in the wind. A wind chime could be heard. He understood.

"Wily."

"Most likely," X said with a sad smile.

"...He doesn't really care what Wily thinks."

"Maybe it seems that way… But he probably cares a lot more than you think. In fact…" his hand brushes against the side of Zero's face. He looked back at him, awestruck.

"...I think you care a lot more than you want to admit to."

Another long moment of silence. Zero held X's hand in place.

"...I don't know why you think that but… I guess."

X leaned forward. Zero watched silently as he came closer and closer, and soon enough…

The world melted away.

Suddenly, he found himself not caring about much of anything at all. Not about Rock, or Bass, or Vile, or the money, or how they were in public.

He only cared about how soft X's lips were. How warm they were… How... loving everything felt-

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!" Zero nearly jumped out of his skin and X looked pale as a sheet, they quickly pulled away.

Bass.

He stared at them dead, hunched over, and his fists scrunched up into a ball. He looked ready to throw a punch.

"I-I'm telling Wily you're gay!" Zero jumped up from the bench, the bottle of ramune was knocked off and cracked as it fell to the ground, spewing out all of its contents. X flinched at the noise. Zero felt him reach out to grab his jacket, but he didn't care.

"BASS IM GONNA KICK YOUR ASS!" Zero screamed at him, fury coursing through every vein in his entire body. His hands twitched, longing to grab his throat and squeeze it until he was on the brink of passing out.

"ZERO!" X yelled in desperation, however, Zero only focused on what was in front of him.

Bass booked it, his legs moving faster than Zero had ever seen them go before. Zero ran after him, His legs pushed against his earth, his heartbeat hummed and thumped, and his golden locks flowed behind him. Through the streets, and the dizzying alleyways and the never-ending lines of houses and bushes. He rounded a corner, and he was gone.

Disappeared from sight.

"GODDAMMIT!" in his blind fury, a new hole appeared in the wall.

Bass sighed.

"Thank fuck, I finally lost him…" He sighed. Looking around his surroundings…

"Fuck."

...He realized he was lost.

Seriously where the hell was he? There was a frayed wooden shack selling what seemed to be candy and various treats. The wood may have been brown at one point, but it was bleached grey from the sun. Nearby, was an almost run down playground. The sign that said "ようこそ" was stained with mysterious dark stains down the front, well mysterious to him, what was it mold? It looked almost haunted. He did not feel "welcomed" at al The plastic slide, bright yellow in color, along the side was also covered in the dark moldy stuff. He was pretty sure the rest of the playground was as well.,

He needed to get back home. Pronto.

"This tastes so good!"

The voice belonged to a guy- he didn't give a shit what his real name was. What he did know that has bright ginger-orange hair, geek freckles, blue eyes, and his nickname was "Cut." Usually, he was around Rock-

And there he was.

His light brown hair was slightly tousled by the wind. It almost shined in the sunlight, it was so thick and… glossy almost. His pale skin had a healthy glow to it and his white teeth sparkled when he smiled. His eyes were an intoxicating ocean blue and Bass sometimes found himself staring into the depths.

He hated it. He wanted to pull his hair right out of its scalp and shove his hair into the dirt until it was dry and brittle like his. He wanted to kick and punch and scratch at his skin, deep enough so his soft skin was covered in stitches. He wanted to stick his thumb into his eyes as he socked him right in the face. He wanted his face to be so swollen until his eyes would be impossible to see.

He felt his fists clench and his dirt-stained nails dig into his skin. God, he hated how happy he looked…

Their eyes met.

His smile grew, his eyes sparkled, and he waved.

"Hey Bass!"

He saw cut elbow him and whisper a "dude what the heck?"

But he also saw Rock wave him off.

Did he want his face kicked in that bad? Why would he call him over like that? Does he want to die?

Fine then.

Bass walked over to them.

"What do you want?"

"I was just saying hi. " He chirped, chirped, yeah, chirped just like a bird.

Bass scowled, "Do you want to die, is that it?"

"Quit being such a jerk!" His head whipped over to the orange one. Cut gulped and beads of sweat formed on his forehead, nervous wasn't he? Good. That's how it should be.

"What did you just say to me?" Bass snarled at him.

"Y-You heard me! Quit being a dick!"

"Cut!"

"What?! He is!"

Rock sighed. "Why can't we all just get along?"

"I can get along with people. Just not him." Cut lifted himself up from off the bench and ran off.

"Cut!" Rock yelled after him. "Where are you going?!"

"I need to go back home anyway!" Cut yelled back, "See you later!" He disappeared from sight.

"..."

"..."

"You want some gummy bear-" Bass snatched the bag out of his hands, he probably would have slapped them out of his hand if he thought longer about it, but he was already eating some when he realized Rock was giggling.

"Shut up!"

Rock just smiled. "I'm just happy you took them. "

"Don't get any ideas. I just wanted the bears, it doesn't mean anything else, and as soon as I'm done imma kick yer ass," he grumbled.

Rock's smile faltered a bit. "We can get along can't we?"

"...Shut up."

"I'm serious Bass, I don't want to fight you anymore. Why do you hate me? Did I ever do anything to you? X and Zero get along don't they?"

Bass rolled his eyes. He wanted to say that this is one of the reasons why the annoying fucking questions.

He was just so.

Fucking.

Annoying.

"They get along too well. I saw them kissing earlier." Just thinking about it wanted to make him puke. Rock hardly seemed surprised.

"I'm not asking to be like that Bass. I just want to be friends."

Bass tsked, "I'm not interested. I hate you, and I will hate you."

"But why?"

"...I'm leaving," he said, and threw down the bag of candy, leaving Rock stunned.

The only problem with that was he still didn't know how to get home. The sun in the distance was lowering itself, and the world became a ball of orange light. Bass squinted and cursed. Damned sun getting in his eyes. He figured if he stumbled around enough he'd make it to the house, even if that took a while.

It wasn't until he was standing in front of Rock again he realized he was walking in a circle.

"Uh… Are you lost…?" Rock inquired.

"No, shut up." Bass snarled and walked off again.

GodDAMMIT, he walked in another circle.

"..." Rock stared at him.

"...Fine, fine. Do you know the way home?" Rock's face lit up and he leaped to his feet. "Sure do! I go here a lot 'cause Cut and his brothers live near here."

"I don't care," Bass said dryly.

"...If you don't care then I guess you just walk home yourself."

Bass felt himself prickle up, "You wouldn't dare!"

"I might show you the way if you ask nicely though." Rock teased.

Bass gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. How dare the little bitch take advantage of him! He had half a mind to beat it out of him, but he knew from experience that it probably wouldn't work in his favor.

He didn't see any other options…

"...Show me the way…"

"Show me the way what?"

"...PLEASE." he choked out. Goddammit, he had him in his hands like a defenseless animal.

Rock smiled obliviously, innocently, "Okay! Follow me!"

Reluctantly, he did. It felt weird for him to just follow him around, staring at the back of his head. Was his hair black or dark brown?

"Why are you so desperate to be a friend?"

Rock looked behind back to Bass, "well… I just don't want to hate me anymore.

"...well I do. "

"...but why?"

He looked away from him and kicked at the dirt. "You wouldn't understand."

Rock stopped in his tracks. "Then…. I won't stop until I do understand. "

Bass arrived home. At least, what could be called home. Wily was shoving down the trash into their tiny garbage can, trying to fit in as much as he can. Treble was laying on their old and worn leather couch, asleep. He ignored them without so much a grunt as a greeting and went into his room.

He says room, but it's a literal closet. There are 5 rooms in the "house" (really it's a trailer) a living/dining room, a teeny-tiny kitchen (more like a kitchenette), a bathroom, 2 bedrooms, and the closet. His own private living space.

It can fit his twin-sized mattress well. Any more than that and you've reached full capacity.

Bass flopped onto the mattress, belly first.

"Surprised you didn't come in here yelling how I'm gay. "

Bass didn't look up, "go away Blondie. "

"Nah. "

"You will if you don't want me to go tell Wily. " Bass growled.

"How come you haven't already?"

"It's none of your business. "

"..." he was silent for a moment.

"You'll figure it out," Zero said, then left.

…

What the fuck does that mean?! He doesn't have to figure anything out! He hates Rock! He hates him because…

Because…

It doesn't matter why. Does it? He just wants to prove that he's stronger than him.

And he hate hate hate hate hates him.


	3. Rock's invitation

got was "You wouldn't understand." What does that even mean?!"

"You know Rock, I don't get why you keep bothering him about it. Why would you want to understand a guy that keeps trying to beat you up? Just leave him alone, I'm sick of you both fighting."

"Yeah!" Cut * cut* in. "He's a jerk, and he hates you probably hates you because Wily does."

It was lunchtime at Chugakkou middle school. A group of four friends, with lunches from home, turned and pushed their desks into each other, so it formed a table as they ate inside of their classroom. The light from the outside illuminated the class with warm light, and a nice breeze ruffled the white curtains. The room was full of light chatter from their other classmates, but most had gone other places around the school to eat.

"Isn't that right Ice?"

"Huh?"

Ice looked up, and his nose was finally released from his book. He was reading something about the artic most likely. He looked at Cut with his ice blue eyes behind his round, gigantic, coke bottle glasses and brushed aside his white hair. They didn't look like brothers at all, especially when compared with Cut's ginger-orange hair and freckles dotted along his cheeks.

"I wasn't paying attention." Ice said, a bit flustered.

"I said, isn't Bass a jerk?!"

Ice nodded, "affirmative."

Rock sighed and leaned against the table, hand on chin. "None of you get it. There's just… something about him."

Cut made a noise that was halfway between a snicker and a snort- a snork. He snorked. "It almost sounds like you have a crush on him."

Rock's ocean-blue eyes grew wide as dinner plates and nearly popped out of his head. "I-It isn't like that Cut… At least I-"

ANYWAY-" Cut *cut* him off. "What are you all doing this weekend?"

"Hm… Probably cleaning the house, as always." Roll mused and twirled her blond locks around her finger.

"Yeah, don't really get anything planned." Rock said, half-thankful he was interuppted before he said anything he would regret later.

"WELL, look no further for weekend plans! Fire got the weekend off and decided to take us all out to the beach. Let me tell ya, it going to be... Lit."

Ice groaned, "Really Cut? Really?"

"You're going Icey?" Roll asked, "Icey" perked up at her voice, presumably, and his face flushed a bit as he nodded, "Unfortunately. I hate the beach…"

"I don't get it!" Cut exclaimed, "what's to hate about it?!" It was clear they had this conversation before, Rock thought to himself.

Ice's face scrunched up. "It's hot, sand gets everywhere, the water is salty, you can't swim without worrying about the waves, the waters cold, there's jellyfish that can sting and crabs that can pinch, and-"

"Jeez! Okay, okay! I get it! But you know, it would be less hot if you took off that parka-"

"I would die first. "

The table burst into laughter,

"What?! What's so funny?!"

"Oh, Nothing. Just keep being you Icey. " Roll giggled. Icey buried his face back into his book.

"The beach sounds like fun Cut," Rock said. "It's been forever since I've been to one. "

"Right?! It's going to be GREAT! I can't wait!" Cut exclaimed.

"Ah! You guys! We only have 1 minute until lunch is over!" Ice suddenly said frantically, pointing to the clock.

"Aw sh-"

…

School was done. Done and done. Students could now run out of the building with cheer and go home and enjoy their freedom until the weight of homework and having to come back tomorrow crashed down on them. Most didn't stick around inside the building and rushed out only to stand around and wait for their friends. The town was small, small enough that there wasn't a bus system for the school, the few that came to school from out of town walked to the subway on the outskirts. Most were free to go wild with the drug that is youth and waste their parents hard earned cash and allowance money on "Lalinde's Candy & Flower Shoppe."

In a town full of dozens of teenagers, (for some reason) and not many shops close by, this usually was the hotspot that was out before taking the subway into the city and not looking back. Since it's close to the school, it's also been a place to get snacks during lunch. The owner of the shop, Noele Lalinde, Rock knew well. She was a "friend" of Light's and used to work in the same field as him before retiring. Rock suspected the reason was an accident that happened with her daughter, Tempo. If it was, it was based on speculation. He only knew that she was in the hospital for a long time, when they were younger, and she was never the same when she finally released.

"Hey Rock, can ya spot me some zenny?" Cuts voice plucked Rock back into reality.

"What? Again?"

"Pleaaassseee, I just want some Haichiyu, I've been craving some all day!"

Rock sighed and dumped some of the gold coins into his hand.

"Sweet! Thanks!" He grinned and closed his fists around the coins.

Before walking home, Rock and Cut wanted to hit the store before going home. Roll and Icey waited for them outside. The inside was very small and crowded. Voice clamored against the wooden walls, and the sweet scent of all the merchandise wafted through the air.

Rock spotted tempo up in the front, she was wearing a forest green dress and her cocoa brown hair was tied up into two pigtails. He selected some gummy candy that read "フルーツグミアンート" on the front.

"Hey, Tempo!"

"Hello Rock." She responded calmly. "It's been awhile since I've seen you."

"It has, hasn't it? Dad's been talking about inviting you back over again."

"He has. Invited us. We've just been busy. Since summer's almost here, we've been making sure we're ready for all the business that's going to come in. "

"Bet you make a lot of money during the summer." Cut commented.

She nodded. "Enough to be comfortable. Are you together or separate?"

"Separate."

"What took you guys so long?!" Roll exclaimed as they both left the store, Rock rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Sorry about that Roll."

"Whatever, Icey and I were having a great time out here anyway."

"Oh? Were ya Iiii-cey?" Cut smirked and elbowed Icey a few times, the younger brother scowled and pushed him away.

"Shut up."

"Well, were ya having a good time out here short-stuff?" he teased.

Ice growled, "Quit making fun of me!"

Roll took Icey's hand, ignoring the effect it had on his previously pale face, and pulled him away from Cut. "Don't make fun of his height. He can't help that! Besides, I like it, he's cute."

Ice buried his face into his hands, and Cut just giggled away like it was the funniest thing had ever seen.

"What's Bass doing over there?"

The three looked over to where Rock was pointing. Bass was just... Standing there.

"weird… What is he doing?" Cut asked.

"Doesn't he usually hang out with Quick and the rest of his brothers?" Roll asked.

Cut was quick to answer, "I heard that Quick beat the snot out of Bass and now none of them like to hang out with him anymore."

"Why though?"

Cut shrugged, "Dunno."

Rock planted his feet firmly on the ground, cupping his hands around his mouth, he leaned forward-

"Rock, don't you dare-"

"HEY! BASS!"

He could see Bass's head whip in his direction, he could see a scowl form on his face, and how his arms moved from side to side, aggressively.

"Seriouslyyyyyy Rock?!" Cut griped at him, and Ice groaned.

"I don't think he wants to talk…" Said Roll, she looked concerned.

"I'm out of here." Cut marched off, Icey would've followed but he nearly died once he realized he was still holding Roll's hand. She looked back from Ice to Rock, and back to Ice.

"Be careful Rock… I don't want to see you come home with a black eye."

Rock smiled and nodded. "I'll be fine."

"...Well… Good luck." She walked off, dragging Ice with her.

Rock looked back, and Bass was scowling at him, as usual.

"You really want to die, don't you?" He growled. Rock hardly blinked and offered the bag of assorted fruit gummies as a peace offering. Bass ripped the bag out of his hands and shoved some into his mouth.

"Your bribery has no effect on me. " Bass snarled, mouth full of candy.

"You know…" Rock started, "You keep threatening to beat me up but it's been a couple weeks since you've…" his thoughts trailed off, he noticed his eye was swollen. ZRock thought it looked like a bruise trying to heal. "...Is something wrong with your eye?"

Bass reached up and touched his eye, still scowling. "Quick, that coward sneak attacked me. He knew he couldn't win a one-on-one fight with me without dragging in some dirty trick-" suddenly he took a deep breath and his jaw clenched. "I mean, buzz off."

Rock frowned. Well, that was disappointing, and here he thought he was actually getting through with him. It was the longest he'd talked to him without threatening to break his legs.

"...Well… I'm going to the beach this weekend… do you want to come with?"

Bass looked angrily at him but also a tad… confused? He looked at him, and to the side, and back at him.

"Why?"

Rock wasn't expecting that as a response, "huh?"

"Why should I go?"

"..." Good question why should he go…? He hates him, he couldn't say he wanted to hang out, he wouldn't want to, "uh…"

A toothy grin formed across Bass's face and his fangs were out for the whole world to see. "I get it."

"You do…?"

"That's where you're wanting to have our FINAL SHOWDOWN! Where we finally prove who the strongest.!"

What? "Huh?"

"I'll be there." He runs off without another word.

"...What just happened?"

When Rock arrived home, Roll was already in the kitchen preparing dinner. He could see that she was cutting up vegetables and a pot of water was sitting on the stove. Rush, a mutt with fur light in color, ran up to him, panting. Rock patted his head and strokes his hand down his back a few times. His fur was smooth to pet and felt nice. It was just a shame he was shedding so much. Stray strands of fur flew off of him, and Rock cringed internally at all the vacuuming that would need to be done eventually.

"How was your day rush?"

Rush stared at him, radiating positive energy that most dogs did.

"Good? That's good to hear. Hey, Roll, is X home?"

"Not yet! " she yelled from the kitchen. "He says he's coming over in a bit with Zero! He's having dinner with us!"

"Oh, cool. What's for dinner?"

"Pasta!"

"Sounds yummy!" he yelled and then climbed upstairs with the thump of his feet. It was upstairs he finally heard Beats tweeting from his cage in the living room. Tango was nearby, eyes closed and asleep on the couch. Rick passes her by and gently rubbed the top of her head, he orange fur was always so so soft. She opened one eye and closed it back. He could hear Beat chirping from the other room and paid him a visit.

"Hey there Beat."

The white and blue parakeet chirped and tweeted, and Rock opened the cage door and Beat flew out, landing on top of his head, still singing. He reached up to stroke his fingers and went into his room.

Over the years his room hadn't changed much. On the right side was a white desk with papers and various desk ornaments and a few Gundam models that faced the window. Next to it was his dresser and a small "walk-in" closet (it was too small to actually walk into). On the left side was his bed with blue bedspread and crisp white sheets. It was messy and one of his pillows laid on the floor. He made a mental note to fix it before Zero came over and his eyes brushed over the pictures on the walls. One was of Cut and him playing in the sandbox when they were younger. Another was of Roll winking at the camera with an arm around him and Ice. His favorite picture was a family portrait.

It was from several years ago, and he couldn't remember the exact moment it was from. It had to be from early summer, as they were all wearing yukata. Roll was a pretty pink and red one with a sakura pattern. She looked about 5 or 6. Light had a hand on her shoulder and was staring into the camera, his eyes twinkling. The tips of Rock's fingers touched the face of who was next to him.

Blues. He only had one other picture of him, and that was from right before he left. How old was he now? 15? 14? Something like that. It's been about two years and he ran away when he was… 12? Rock pondered Light's words,

"He'll come back in his own time."

Was that true? Would he ever come back?

He looked happy in the portrait. He wasn't smiling a big toothy smile, a photo smile, it was a genuine one. He could tell by the fact that his dark shades, his spiky brown hair, and even his bright red yukata all seemed to be smiling.

X was standing in front of him. He did have a big toothy grin, but Rock suspected it was because of the hand he was holding, just out of frame. If he looked closely he could see just the hint of blonde hair.

His eyes stared at his younger self. Being fraternal twins Rock was the same age as Roll, if not just a bit older. People were always surprised when they said so. It was possible for twins to have different eye and hair color, the internet said so. Yet they always looked shocked. But besides that, It wasn't his shy smile or his ocean-wave patterned yukata that caught his attention. no, it was who he was standing next to.

Bass. His black hair with that one blonde streak, and his worn clothes, he looked so nervous, but there he was. He didn't look angry, he wasn't trying to pick a fight, he was there. Like they were friends.

They were friends. Something had happened between then and now, and he didn't know what. He couldn't remember what it was, and Bass wasn't going to talk about it.

Maybe he couldn't remember either.

Either way, this was the reason why he tried so, so hard to make up and be friends with him. Bass wouldn't be able to understand that. He would take the picture right out of his hands and rip it up. There'd be no use in showing him.

The bell rung.

"I'll get it!"

Rock jumped up and started making the bed in a hurry.

That was Monday. On Tuesday Zero came over for dinner again, and both times he horked down the food so fast X had to slap him on the back.

"Slow down! The food isn't going anywhere!" Roll told him both times. The first time she smiled and even laughed a bit. The second time, she looked plain worried.

Both times Zero muttered an apology and ate his food at a reasonable pace, and both times he sped back up, and both times he asked for seconds and then thirds.

It's like he never ate food before.

After they ate, they went upstairs, into X's room.

Rock wondered if what Bass said about them kissing was true. He'd like to think X would have said something about it by now, he really would like to, considering the fact that they were siblings. Maybe not though. Should he bring it up?

Wednesday arrived, and Zero joined them for curry and rice. For the third time, Zero chocked down a serving and X had to slap his back.

"Hey X?"

"Hm?"

They all stared at him. Zero and X and Roll. He swallowed, might as well get it over with…

"Um… are you... doing well in school?"

He internally slapped himself and berated himself. "How are you doing in school?" Really? It wasn't enough to back out at the last second asking them, but he just had to sound like an absolute dweeb in the process. Great. Really.

They blinked at him. Zero did end up answering,

"Terrible."

"Oh."

"You are?"

Zero swore, he made the mistake of saying that in front of X, who looked at him disappointedly.

"Zero."

"X."

"Zero."

"What?"

"I know you could do better."

He grumbled something about it being bullshit and stuffed his face with more food.

Thursday came and all Cut talked about was typing to the beach on Saturday. Ice seemed as apathetic as usual, but it wasn't lost on Rock how he perked up when Roll talked about the cute new swimsuit she was going to wear. Roll really was too innocent for her own good. Thank goodness Ice was a good guy.

"Oh by the way," Rock came out of his thoughts and jumped back into the conversation, "Are any of your other brothers coming? I haven't seen Elec since he started high school. "

"Don't bring him up. He's been acting like an ass ever since."

Ice nodded, "I wish he'd just move out already. It's bad enough having Fire and Guts boss us around all the time."

"Y-You don't-"

"You don't really mean that," Roll interrupted. "They're only sticking around because they love you. Who else would take care of you? Both of you aren't old enough to hold a job like they are. I'm sure they would love to move out and live their own lives, but if they did that, how would they know you were being fed and had a roof to live under?"

She picked up a plastic spoon and scooped right into her lunch. "Besides, think about how hard it was for them. They had to grow up on their own. Without any big brothers to boss them around."

They were stunned into silence.

Friday arrived. If you thought he was annoying on Thursday, he was just a blabbermouth. Ice looked more than fed up, to say the least.

"Thank goodness it's Friday. " Rock thought. Going to the beach was fun on its own. Going to the beach with his two best friends was even better. Going to go to the beach with Bass?

That was nerve-wracking. If all was well, it would be a few steps closer to reuniting their lost friendship. If not…

Well…

He might as well give up. But somehow he doubted that even if it didn't end up well he would give up.

Still, Rolls' enthusiasm was infectious and he couldn't help be even just a little itty bitty bit excited.

"This swimsuit is adorable!" She held up a 2-piece suit, light pink in color with ruffles. Rock didn't have much to say on it, so he just agreed.

"Yeah, cute. "

Roll frowned. "You think Icey would like it?"

"Huh?" Now that he could answer. "I mean, yeah but… why do you care what he thinks?"

"N-no reason! I just want to look nice!"

Both of them were too oblivious for their own good. The mantra "It's none of my business, it's none of my business" repeated in his head in a steady rhythm and he didn't bring it back up.

They'll figure it out, he hoped.

Saturday arrived. As soon as Rock lifted his head up from his pillow his phone was bombarded with texts and calls from Cut. With a sigh, he picked up his phone and answered his latest call.

"Good-"

"GOOD MORNING ROCK!" Cut screamed at the other end. Rock winced.

"Could you please calm do-"

"I CAN'T!"

He heard a muffled shut up in the background.

"I seriously can't calm down! I've been thinking about it all fuc-"

"LANGUAGE!"

Rock recognized that voice, "Is that Elec?"

"Yeah, he's coming with us, unfortunately."

He heard another yell in the background and Cut cursed. "I'll see you later." and he hung up.

Once Rock accepted the fact he wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep, he resigned himself to throwing on a t-shirt and shorts and headed downstairs to get some food.

Roll was up. She was already frying something, it sounded and smelled like bacon. To his surprise, and delight, LIght was sitting at the kitchen table, with a cup and coffee and a newspaper clutched in his hands.

"Good morning!"

Light looked at him and smiled. "Good morning Rock." he reached out a hand and ruffled his hair. Rock happily let him do so.

"Roll told me that you're going to the beach with Cut today."

Rock nodded, "Mm-hm! Oh, I guess I should've asked first… Sorry."

He chuckled and ruffled his hair again, "It's fine. I would have said yes anyway. I'm sorry that I've been too busy with work to spend time with you."

"Why have you been so busy?" Roll inquired from the kitchen.

"Unfortunately, I'll have to tell you later. Once everything is settled out…."

"Sounds complicated."

Light's eyes twinkled, "Don't worry about it. When are you leaving?"

"At twelve." He checked the clock, it was only 10:30.

"Strange, usually X is up by now." Rock nodded in agreement, it was strange. Sometimes he'd wake up even earlier than Roll. Rock was always last to wake up, there were days he had to be woken up before the afternoon hit.

"I'll go wake him up." He sat up from the kitchen table and walked back upstairs, quietly over to X's room.

He gently opened the door.

He ended up not waking him up at all. His mouth was open, and he was ready to yell for him to get up, but then he saw golden threads snaking up the bed and attached to Zero, who was…

Cuddling him? It was especially surprising considering he hadn't seen him come in. Did he sneak in? At least they were both dressed. He probably wouldn't be able to look X in the eye ever again if that was the case. He let out a squeak of surprised, picked up his jaw from the floor, and quietly closed the door.

"Where's X?"

Rock muttered an excuse before stuffing his face with eggs and bacon.

So that answered his question right well. Last time he'd checked, friends don't cuddle each other like that, and he was 10000000% sure Ice and Cut would never let him forget it if he thought about doing that with them.

Which he was not.

Still, he cringed once he realized the odd feeling that was prickling up his spine.

Jealousy. Such an ugly feeling. But why was he feeling jealousy? He wasn't jealous of X was he?

Another prickle. He was.

No chance of him being jealous of him cuddling Zero. No, he was probably making a face just thinking about it; Roll was looking at him funny.

He wasn't ever good at sorting out his own feelings. They jumbled and tangled and tripped over each other in a mess inside his head. He briefly wondered how X was so good with things like that, he always seemed to know how everybody was feeling before they figured it out himself. He always gave good advice... He always listened... Now he thought about it, he was a lot like Dad. Not that he's any good now. Rock felt like he'd just walked on them while they were actually naked, and he couldn't talk to Light... Rock wasn't interested in outing him before he had the chance. Dad wasn't the kind of person to be mad, in fact, the opposite; it's just X probably would just appreciate being the one who told him first. Probably.

He sighed and shoved more eggs into his mouth. Hoping the rest of the day would put his worries aside and be less complicated.


End file.
